Most stores which sell automobile-related products have limited floor space in which to display their products. The typical automobile floor mat is quite cumbersome, bulky, and difficult to place within restrictive small-sized packages. Currently, automobile floor mats are packaged by using an anchor which is clamped or attached to the floor mats to suspend the floor mats on a display bar. Thus, the floor mats are displayed in an unfolded condition such that a consumer may view the mat for color and design features. U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,694, of common assignee herewith and issued Nov. 2, 1993, exemplifies the current state of the art for automobile floor mat packaging. Retailers need an efficient manner to display floor mat packages of this type in their stores. Currently, these floor mat packages are hung on a display bar extending from the store walls or shelves. This limits the amount of floor mat packages which can be displayed per floor display area. Also, it is difficult for customers to inspect the floor mat packages which are nearest to the wall or shelf due to the number of other floor mat packages on the display bar.
Thus, what is needed is a display stand tailored for displaying floor mat packages of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,694 in a convenient manner for customer inspection while minimizing the space needed to display the maximum number of floor mat packages. Additionally, a display stand for displaying automobile floor mats is needed which is adaptable to current store display fixtures/shelves of the type having a base floor portion and an upright wall portion extending upwardly from the base floor portion wherein the wall portion has strips adapted to receive mounting brackets having hooks. It is also desirous to have such a display stand which can be easily manufactured, assembled and packaged.
The prior art is represented by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,941,669, 3,435,959, and 3,693,807. However, the display stands disclosed in these patents do not meet the specific needs for displaying automobile floor mats.